


Just Not For Long

by ojisandavid



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Aging, Family Feels, Gen, Hiro Hamada Needs a Hug, So does Aunt Cass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ojisandavid/pseuds/ojisandavid
Summary: An older Hiro visits the cafe with a sad task: to convince an elderly Aunt Cass to give up her home. He learns that Cass is both stronger and more scared than she seems.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	Just Not For Long

**Author's Note:**

> Psychological studies tell us that we experience our greatest stress and life dissatisfaction around age 50, followed by a slow, steady increase in our life satisfaction over many years as we accept our limitations and scars as part of who we are. I thought I’d explore that idea using Hiro (who still needs a hug) and Aunt Cass.
> 
> This is also my first Big Hero 6 story. All of your BH6 stories of hurt and loss and hope are a big help right now, and I hope I can add a little something to this amazing fandom.

Hiro sat at his usual table. Outside: tendrils of morning fog curling down the streets, sun peeking through. Inside: clattering of silverware, chattering of customers, aroma of coffee, steam rising from his fresh _pain au chocolat_. He closed his eyes, smiling faintly, letting it all soak in and warm him from the inside. His own home didn’t feel much like home these days, but the Lucky Cat Cafe still did. For now.

“Good morning, sweetie!” Aunt Cass bustled over to the table, coffee pot in hand, silver hair catching the hazy sunlight. His gap-toothed smile broadened.

“Aunt Cass.” He rose to accept her ritual hug. They stood nearly eye to eye. Despite Tadashi’s many promises, Hiro’s growth spurt had never really arrived. “How’s the morning rush?”

“Rushing!” she said brightly. She turned, moving to a nearby table where her eagle eye had spotted a half-empty coffee mug. She said something he couldn’t quite hear, and the customers laughed with her.

She was still his happy, goofy, energetic Aunt Cass, but he noticed the swelling of her ankles below her ever-present capri pants, the hitch in her walk. He frowned. She was in her seventies; she shouldn’t be on her feet for eight, ten, twelve hours a day. Even with the help of her Baymax Silver, his gift for her 70th birthday, he knew she struggled on the stairs to her living quarters. 

She came around periodically to refill his coffee, sneak him an extra pastry, and ruffle his messy salt-and-pepper hair. He tried not to watch her every move, tried not to let on that he was worried. Hiro noticed the cafe’s manager, a big kind man who reminded him of Wasabi, also keeping an eye on Cass as he worked behind the counter. A few years ago Hiro had insisted that she hire a manager, and for once she’d listened.

Cass turned sideways to pass between two close-packed tables. She stumbled, hard. Before Hiro could even rise from his seat the manager was there, steadying her and taking the coffee pot. For a fleeting moment she looked stricken, then she beamed up at the man. “Thanks, Dave,” he heard her say. Dave caught Hiro’s eye, the big man’s face a mirror of Hiro’s own worry.

He pinched his nose. He’d probably waited longer than he should for another round of The Talk. Would she listen this time? He checked his phone again. Thankfully, his reinforcements were still on their way. He could feel Cass’ eyes on him now and then. He was lingering longer than usual, and Cass could always read his mind. Hadn’t she figured out the whole Big Hero 6 thing without telling him? 

Superheroes, he thought. We played at being superheroes. Immortals. He shook his head. Now he popped Advil every morning for the twinges of arthritis from all his old hero injuries: left knee, right ankle, the cracked rib that never quite healed, the gunshot wound to his arm. The meds couldn’t touch the nightmares. On bad nights his husband -- ex-husband, he reminded himself with a wince -- would wrap his arms around Hiro and lull him back to sleep. He didn’t have that comfort anymore. 

But he still had his Aunt Cass, and he wasn’t giving up on her.

The morning rush tailed off. Customers were paying, getting their coffees and muffins to go, and venturing out into the thinning fog. Cass, Dave, and the other employees bussed tables, with Cass darting glances at her nephew.

The doorbell jingled and Hiro looked up, relieved. 

“Hiro! My man!” Fred wrapped him in a bear hug. Honey Lemon kissed him on both cheeks, and their little granddaughter waved chubby hands at him from her stroller.

“Thanks for coming, guys,” Hiro said.

“Of course,” Honey Lemon said quietly. “We went through this with my parents a few years ago. We wouldn’t leave you to do this on your own.”

Cass chugged at top speed across the cafe, making squealing noises that should have set off car alarms a block away. “Honey! Fred! I knew my baby radar was going off! Where is she? Ohhhh….” she trailed off as she pulled the baby into her arms. “Sweet _chica_ , how are you today?” Hiro pulled a chair out, and Cass sat with an armload of happy wiggling baby. The proud grandparents sat with them, Fred next to Hiro, Honey beside Cass. 

“Guess what, chica?” Cass said, lifting the delighted little girl into the air. “The kids are ganging up on Auntie Cass!” She swept the table with a hard glance before turning back to the baby. “So they just need to get it over with and spill, don’t they? Yes they do!”

“Aunt Cass, we’re not…” Hiro started. He sighed. “Yes we are.”

“You know we love you,” said Honey Lemon. “You’re family.”

Cass gently bounced the baby on her knee. “I know, Honey. You guys are my kids just the same as this knucklehead.” Hiro smiled weakly. “So is Wasabi. So is Go Go…” All the faces around the table fell. “... wherever she is,” Cass sighed. “And you don’t have to do a sales job on me. I know it’s time to leave here. I’m not arguing this time. I get it.”

Hiro glanced at the other two. They all had the look of soldiers rushing with their battering ram toward the castle door, only to have someone fling the door open. They weren’t sure where they were going now, but they were going in a hurry.

Cass looked down. The baby patted her forehead. “Where do you want me to go?” she asked quietly. Fred and Honey turned toward Hiro, who swallowed. He looked at his sweet, brave aunt, her heart big enough for all her customers, her employees, Hiro’s friends, and most of all Hiro and Tadashi. Anyone who came close enough to Cass found themselves fed and loved, and fed some more and then loved some more. _Last hug_. 

He saw the lost look on her face, and imagined it on his own face when he and Tadashi stood outside their parents’ old house, two scared little boys, bags packed, unsure what would happen to them. 

Words began to tumble out of her. “I don’t want to be any trouble and you know there’s an assisted living place near your house that doesn’t look too bad or maybe just a studio apartment somewhere or if you think my legs are too bad there’s a nursing home or…”

“Oh, Aunt Cass.” His voice shook. He felt Fred’s hand squeeze his shoulder. “You’ll never have to go anywhere you don’t want to go. I promise. We all promise. Okay?”

She nodded, not looking up at him. 

“Since the … divorce, the condo is way too big just for me,” Hiro continued. “You know the guest room, it’s got its own sitting area and bathroom, lots of sunshine, and big windows where you can see the bridge. Do you, do you think you could be happy there? With me?” 

Cass looked up then, looked at Hiro with such love and relief that he felt his eyes welling up. She carefully handed the baby to Honey Lemon, then reached for Hiro’s hand. “I would be happy anywhere with my family,” she said.

When Hiro was young and immortal, his emotions and experiences would blaze white-hot across the sky, larger than life. Now he was older, his life consisting of smaller trials, miniature victories. And now he had rescued his Aunt Cass from an old age of hurt and loneliness. For the first time in a long time, Hiro felt Tadashi with him. _Someone has to help_. For the first time in a long time, he felt like a hero.

“I know I’ll miss this place,” Cass said. “When I’m on the couch at night, I still expect you and … and Tadashi … to come thundering downstairs to raid the fridge and hog the remote and tell me about your day. Being in this house, seeing our photos on the wall, I can remember every day with you boys, all the happy times and the bad times, everything.” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened them again. “We’ll make new memories at your house, won’t we?”

“We will, Aunt Cass.”

Dave the manager approached, coffee pot in hand. “Need anything, guys?” he asked gently.

Hiro looked around the table. Fred was grinning at him, proud as an older brother. Honey was smiling down at her baby granddaughter, so full of life and possibilities. Then he looked at Aunt Cass, her lined face glowing, hand still firmly grasping his across the table. He looked up. “We’re okay.”


End file.
